Map the network to enhance connections

The 2025 National Mentoring Summit will be held in Washington, DC this week.  I won't be there but have attended and written about these over the past 20 years. Browse some of my articles at this link. 

I wish the organizers would create a participation map, similar to the one created by the Making Learning Connected cMOOC, which was first held in 2013 and repeated for several years. Participants are still connected in interesting ways. 

I had participated in an Education, Technology & Learning ETMOOC a few month earlier and was impressed by their participation map. I shared that in the CLMOOC conversation and they created their own. You can see the 2013 map below. Visit this page and see maps from 2013 to 2017. 

2013 CLMOOC participation map

cMOOCs are idea sharing events. If you can participate long enough you learn new ideas that might be applied to your own work.  You can also build friendships with people living in different states and countries, as I have over the past 12 years.   The Mentoring Summits have a similar purpose, but when there are 1000 people in the room, you really only connect with those you rub elbows with, if then. 

While the Summit has some features that encourage registered participant interactions, this is not open to the public and I'm not sure how much it continues after the summit.  I certainly have never found a #MentorSummit discussion group on any of my social media channels that operated in a similar way the connected learning cMOOCs have.

This is more important in 2025 than ever before. Just this past week the President issued an executive order ending Federal grant funding for thousands of organizations.  Youth serving programs, including mentoring and tutoring, will be hit hard.  

I started leading a volunteer-based tutor/mentor program in 1975 (see history) while I held a full time job with the Montgomery Ward company. While our program grew to include over 300 pairs of youth and volunteers by 1990, funding was not an issue because all of the leaders were volunteers.

However, in 1990 when I converted this program to a 501-c-3 non profit and needed to raise money to pay salaries for myself and others to stay involved, the funding of non profits began to become a real issue. Over the years as my personal frustration grew, I've built a library of articles that show the challenges small non profits face in finding consistent operating funds, and I’ve built a library of articles that show how others think on this topic.

I no longer lead a direct-service non-profit. Finding consistent funding has always been a challenge.

I can only imagine the anxiety and fear taking place among staff, leaders and clients as they try to navigate the Federal funding cuts announced this week by Executive order.

I created the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 and the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC in 2011 to influence how youth serving programs are funded.  I've posted many articles tagged 'philanthropy' on this blog that show my thinking. I hope you'll take time to look at them.

The goal is to reverse the process, at least a little. Teach donors to seek programs to fund, based on who they serve and what they do, and what the donor can learn about the need for that type of service provider.  By building lists of Chicago volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs and a library of research articles, and sharing that on my website, I enable this process. 

We created the Tutor/Mentor Connection while we were launching a new direct service program to help teens in the Cabrini Green area of Chicago move from 7th grade through high school.  The graphic below shows an on-going commitment to help EVERY tutor/mentor program in Chicago as a strategy to help our OWN program.  

I've constantly encourage other programs in Chicago to do the same, and other cities to duplicate the Tutor/Mentor Connection strategy.  

I illustrate my thinking visually so let me show some maps that I think many of you will find interesting, and useful.

This is a map showing nearly 400 foundation (corporate and private) in the Chicago region and Eastern part of the United States who I put on my mailing list between 1993 and 2005.

This map shows a close up of the Chicago region so you can get a better sense of how many foundations I was reaching out to.

My organization never had more than 3 or 4 people on staff, and never had a full time professional development officer. I was CEO, chief innovator, chief marketing officer, newsletter writer, grant writer, janitor. Yet every year I was challenged to write letters of introduction, letters of inquiry, grant requests, grant reports, each with different requirements and different questions.

This map shows the Chicago LOOP area.  Imagine how much time went into reach out to these organizations every year. Or how much frustration resulted from countless rejection letters. 

Every year I sent copies of my printed newsletters to these people, showing why tutor/mentor programs were needed and what I was doing as a direct service provider, and as leader of the intermediary Tutor/Mentor Connection.  By 1998 I was using web sites to show the work I was doing and what I was trying to do.

The green icons on the map are foundations that funded my organization at least one time. Few funded me more than 2-3 years in a row. Some, like Montgomery Ward, funded me for seven consecutive years, then went out of business, and thus were not able to continue their support.

None of the grants was larger than $50,000 and most were in the $1,000 to $10,000 per year range. Some were for general operating expenses, which I could use flexibly to build the organization, while many focused specifically on activities of the Cabrini Connections direct service program or the Tutor/Mentor Connection.

In total I raised more than $6 million between 1993 and 2011, with a peak of $500,000 in 2000. This money split with 40% funding the Cabrini Connections direct service program, 40% the Tutor/Mentor Connection, and 20% funding operating and fundraising expenses. With no multi-year commitments, each year since about 1998 I started from zero in raising $300 to $400,000 from a wide range of donors.

None of this was from Federal grants.  A small percent came from a State of Illinois Department of Human Services grant provided from around 2000 to 2011.  

The graphic below shows the intermediary role I've piloted over the past 30 years. It aims to connect "those who can help, which includes donors" to information showing where help is needed, which should include comprehensive lists of youth serving programs in every city and state.

Events like the National Mentoring Summit, and their websites, are part of a number of organizations who take on the role visualized by the blue box in this graphic.  They collect and share information and bring people together to learn from each other. They advocate for public funding of youth serving programs.  Many have directories on their websites that people can use to find places to get involved.

So far, I've not found any that are trying to connect private sector funders with programs in their directories. The "Donate" button on their website usually points to themselves.

What's the point of this article?

With more than 200 youth serving organizations in Chicago offering various forms of tutoring, mentoring and non-school support, we can have 200 development officers and/or Executive Directors reaching through resource lists to find foundations who will give them funds each year, which is a tremendous redundancy.

Or we can build strategies that educate and motivate donors and business partners to reach out and build proactive support systems for tutor/mentor programs in neighborhoods that need such programs.

Imagine if every youth program shared their funding and prospect lists with maps like this.  What if each were educating donors to fund multiple programs, not just their own?  That's what I was doing.   

As I look at what the National Mentoring Partnership offers I wish they hosted their own resource map showing foundations who provide grants to mentor-based programs across the USA, sorted by city and state and by type of mentoring programs they fund. Workshops at the annual Summit, and throughout the year could show youth programs how to use this data in on-going marketing campaigns.

That would make it easier for youth program leaders to find donors.  And, for donors to find programs!

Hopefully this will be discussed in face-to-face events, like the January Mentoring Summit and in statewide gatherings.  And in on-line events like the cMOOCs that I've described.

We can do both. We can do better.

If you're looking for a current map of foundations visit the Foundation Maps by Candid website. Unfortunately,  you'll need to pay a fee to access the data, or be a member of a local network that subscribes.  

Building these on-line communities, encouraging people to connect and share ideas, sharing lists of programs and resource providers, are just some of the responses that should be developed to counter a loss of Federal funding, and a potential decline of critically needed services.  

If you know of such platforms, reach out to connect and share this information with me on these social media pages. 

I turned 78 last December so don't know how many years I have left to write articles like this.  Articles in the About T/MI, History, and A New T/MC sections that are intended to help others understand what I've been trying to do, and to learn how they might duplicate this work in different places, or rebuild it in the Chicago region.

While I'm still here, you can help me keep sharing these ideas by visiting my "Fund T/MI" page and sending a small contribution. 

"If it is to be, it is up to you and me"

This is me for the past 30 years.  I'm pushing a huge boulder up the side of a mountain, without much help.

Yet, I've been motivated by a phrase given to me in 1994 by former WGN TV's Merri Dee, who said, "If it is to be, it is up to you and me."  Here's a 2011 article where I combine her message with a quote from Steve Jobs, saying "Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice."

What's my inner voice been telling me?  Why is this so difficult?

I want people to spend time learning about issues and potential solutions from libraries like I've been building for the past 50 years. 

I started building the Tutor/Mentor information library in the 1970s long before I knew of the Internet. I had majored in history in college in the 1960s then spent three years in US Army Intelligence.  I was sort of "hard wired" to seek out 'best available information' to use it for innovation and problem solving.

When I became a volunteer tutor in 1973 I started seeking ideas to support my weekly tutoring.  When I became the leader of that program in 1975 I expanded my search for ideas, reaching out to leaders of other programs in Chicago to see what I could learn from them (and what they could learn from me).

I held a full-time retail advertising job at the Montgomery Ward corporation with responsibilities that grew from 1973 to 1990.  When I started leading the tutoring program there were 100 pairs of elementary school kids and workplace volunteers. That number grew to 300 pairs by 1990.  There was no way I could personally train each of them to know all they needed to know, so I began to try to motivate them to be "active learners", digging into the library of information I had started collecting. 

I tried to create a culture of learning, engaging youth, volunteers, staff, board members and donors  

The library at the Montgomery Ward program started as four metal file cabinets, filled with learning materials and games for our elementary school students, then from 1980 to 1992 expanded to a 40-foot wall of shelves. 

When we moved to the 20th floor of the Montgomery Ward HQ tower in 1993 we had about 400 sq ft of space, just devoted to our library. It was open to our own volunteers and students, and to leaders of other tutor/mentor programs in Chicago. 

That physical library now is down to a few books on shelves in my home office. The library is now all on-line, which has been happening since 1998, while the space (and funds) available to operate began to shrink.  There's some sadness there, but to me, this is a blessing. The information is available to far more people now than it ever was in the 1990s.

Home Page T/MC website - 1998

We started moving all this on-line in 1998 when one of the volunteers at the tutor/mentor program I was leading offered to build a website for us. We developed the graphic at the right for this first website to show our goal of connecting people from different backgrounds to the information, to each other, and to the Tutor/Mentor Connection. The page design was used help people navigate the information on the site. You could click on any of the blue circles and go to a section where we hosted lists of information/links to other people's websites.

From 1993 to 2000 I used printed newsletters to tell people about some of this information and encouraged them to visit the library at our Wards location.  Many of the tutor/mentor programs launched in the mid 1990s borrowed ideas from that library.  I hosted conferences every six months in Chicago and these became a place to gather new information and to help people understand the information and ideas within the library.  

I've used email newsletters, on-line forums, websites and social media since the early 2000s to point people to the web library.  It's now at http://www.tutormentorexchange.net

In many of my articles I've shown media stories from the 1990s that show the same problems facing Chicago 20 years ago are the same as we are facing now. My comments focus on the lack of consistent, long-term, strategy that engages people from throughout the region in solutions.

At the same time, I've used graphics like this to illustrate the constant learning and innovation needed to bring comprehensive learning supports to youth in all high poverty neighborhoods of urban areas like Chicago, and keep them in place for  many years.

In articles focused on learning, I point to the massive amount of information available, but the lack of time and motivation limiting most people from digging deeply into this information.

Others are thinking and writing of the same problems. I encourage you to visit Harold Jarche's blog and learn about Personal Knowledge Mastery. I've been following his ideas for more than 20 years.   I was also pleased to see an article on Twitter several years ago, titled "Personal Learning Networks: Learning in a Connected World".  I read it, and added it to this section of my web library, so others could find it and read it, too.  The article emphasizes the importance of building your own PLN (personal learning network), saying,

"Social learning and collaboration is a mindset, an attitude and not just a set of tools."

As the Internet library grew, the habits of personal learning did not grow nearly as fast as I hoped. Adults who have grown up without the internet, and without learning habits of Personal and Social Learning, are slow and resistant to spending time in on-line learning.

 
I created the graphic below in 2006 or 2007 to visualize the goal I hoped leaders at the tutor/mentor program I was leading would adopt and that donors would support. You can find it here.

I think this strategy could be supported in many formats, ranging from public school, to non-school tutoring/mentoring and learning, to home and to work. Some of the links I point to in my web library show that this is already happening in many places.

However, if we want to solve complex problems, I feel we need to teach learners to dig into web libraries, like the one I've been building, so that we're all looking at the same maps, and same range of information. If such libraries are supported by cMOOCs and other formats that encourage people to connect and share ideas with each other, I feel they can accelerate the relationship-building among people who already are concerned about the same issues...because they made the effort to enter the MOOC or the library in the first place.

We're now in the first week of the second term in the White House of a person who should be in jail, not moving the country into a dangerous future.  Yet, he was re-elected because millions of people did not spend time learning about the problems the USA and the world faces, and the dangers of political demagogues and self-enriching leaders. 

One of the sections of the Tutor/Mentor library is visualized with this concept map. 

Each node opens to a library of links and/or additional concept maps. The links point to hundreds of websites with information that people can be learning from. Many websites I point to are libraries themselves. It's a worldwide web of knowledge.

Only if it is used.  

And, only if it stays freely available to the world. The rise in censorship makes it possible that my entire library, along with those of many others, could be taken off line.   

While I've been collecting and sharing these ideas for more than 45 years, this work is far too large for any single person. The problems we face are complex, and will take decades of consistent effort to be reduced. Thus, while I seek partners, volunteers and donors to help me maintain my own web platform, I also seek philanthropists who might bring the Tutor/Mentor Institute into one or more universities, where more people can do the work I've been doing, in many more ways.

New platforms, secure from censorship, need to emerge.   If you find one, can you add a copy of my blogs,  my library and archives to it?

Learn more in these visual essays:
- Tutor/Mentor Learning Network - click here
- Form a Tutor/Mentor Connection Team on College Campuses - click here
- Role of Leaders - click here

If you're interested in these ideas connect with me on BlueSky, Mastodon, LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook and make me part of your own PLN. I keep reaching out through the same network to find others who I can learn from.

Use AI to Build Deeper Understanding of the Ideas I Share

This is a graphic that was created by an intern from South Korea more than 10 years ago, based on a blog article I'd written in the late 2000s. You can read about it in articles like this one.

If we want to solve problems facing us we need to spend time in deeper learning.  

Over the past week I've posted articles that provide a comprehensive summary of the Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present) which I started, and still lead.  I used Google NotebookLM to create these summaries and shared podcasts created by the AI with two people discussing the source material.

You can read them here, here and here. 

The goal is that thousands of people read and share these, creating their own podcasts, videos, blog articles, etc. and that this results in information-based intermediary strategies growing in every area with pockets of concentrated poverty, in the USA and the world.

Maybe it will even lead to a wealthy person putting up the money to move this strategy to a university, or another institution, and rebuild it so it has a greater impact over the next 20 years. 

If you're doing this, please share a link in the comments or on social media, and I'll point to your work via my social media platforms and the Tutor/Mentor Library.

If you want to help me do this work, please send a contribution. Visit this page.

Or, start a conversation with me on LinkedIn, BlueSky or Mastodon.

Honoring Dr. ML King, Jr

Last week my CLMOOC friend Terry Elliott introduced me to Google Notebook LM, its artificial intelligence tool to help people communicate ideas.  I've tinkered with it over the weekend and today asked it to look at two articles I wrote in past years to honor the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Holiday.  I'll post the links to those at the bottom of this page.

Below is the text that I received. The [1, 2] in the text refers to the two articles I provided.

Bridging Divides: A Framework for Youth Development
To honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the author of the blog posts will be working at his computer to connect people with information and ideas to bridge divides and create opportunity [1, 2]. The author is also focused on learning and adding information to his web library [2]. Specifically, the author is: 

• Making an effort to connect people who can help with information and ideas they can use to help bridge the divides in America, to create greater opportunity for all [1]. 

• Doing research and learning to identify places where people need help, and offering time, talent, dollars, and other types of support to organizations and businesses in those areas [1]. 

• Working on creating a page listing Instagram sites of Chicago area programs [2]. 

• Sharing what he has learned about leading a youth tutor/mentor program in Chicago from 1975 to 2011 [2]. 

The author's goal is to create an organized framework that encourages volunteers to serve as tutors, mentors, coaches, advocates, friends, and leaders in ongoing efforts that make a life-changing difference for kids [2]. The aim is to ensure that kids will not live in poverty as adults because they will have the academic, social/emotional, and workplace skills needed for 21st-century jobs, as well as a network of adults who can open doors to jobs and mentor them in their careers [2]. 

The author has been working on this goal since 1993 (Tutor/Mentor Connection) and continues it through the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC since 2011 [1, 2]. The author uses maps to focus attention on places where people need extra help [1]. The author states that he has been collecting and mapping data since 1994 [3]. Additionally, the author stresses the importance of making information accessible and encouraging others to use it for planning and action steps, emphasizing that the internet is a meeting place to support this goal [1, 2].

Summary
These notes detail Dan Bassill's decades-long commitment to using geographic information systems (GIS) mapping to address social inequality in Chicago, particularly among youth. His work, initially reliant on volunteer efforts and limited resources, received a significant boost from funding in 2007, enabling the creation of an interactive online mapping platform. However, subsequent funding loss due to the 2008 recession has left the platform defunct, highlighting the critical need for sustained philanthropic support to maintain such vital public service tools. 

Bassill's mapping projects visualize disparities in poverty, crime, and access to resources, aiming to inform community planning and advocate for equitable resource allocation. He connects this mapping work to a broader framework for youth development, emphasizing accessible information, collaboration, and mentorship as key components for fostering opportunity and breaking cycles of poverty.

 
Mapping Inequality in Chicago
This blog post reflects on how the author will honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day by using mapping technology to connect people and resources to address inequality in Chicago. The author analyzes data from various sources, including maps showing demographics, shootings, poverty levels, and existing youth programs, to highlight disparities and advocate for increased investment in underserved communities. Specific organizations and initiatives are mentioned as potential partners in this effort, and the author seeks to connect with others to build collaborative partnerships. The author also describes their past work in this area and seeks funding to rebuild their mapping platform to support ongoing community planning efforts. Ultimately, the author aims to leverage data visualization to improve opportunities and address social injustices.

Mapping Chicago's Needs
Dan Bassill uses maps to focus attention on areas in Chicago where people need extra help [1]. He has been collecting and mapping data since 1994 to support this work [1, 2]. His approach to using maps includes:

• Identifying areas needing support: Bassill uses maps to pinpoint neighborhoods that require additional assistance [1].

• Visualizing disparities: Maps help to show the overlap between areas with high concentrations of African Americans, poverty, and locations of shootings [1]. He also uses maps to show health disparities, which are indicators of investments needed [1].

• Highlighting resource gaps: By mapping the locations of youth tutor/mentor programs, Bassill can identify areas within Opportunity Zones that lack these critical resources [1].

• Showing investment patterns: Maps can show how areas with the least investment are often the opposite of those targeted by Opportunity Zones [1].

• Using mapping platforms: Bassill utilizes various data mapping platforms to create maps that tell stories about specific places [1]. He points out that it is a challenge to motivate and teach people how to use these platforms [1]. He also notes that many data-maps are no longer online, creating a challenge to locate the needed information [1].

• Focusing on specific areas: Bassill zooms in on maps to concentrate on particular neighborhoods, such as North Lawndale, to show hospitals and other resources [1].

• Creating interactive maps: He has built an interactive platform using ARC GIS software that enables users to create maps showing layers of information [2]. This platform, however, is no longer functioning properly due to lack of funding [2].

• Advocating for map accessibility: Bassill emphasizes that maps should be interactive and online so they can be easily used by those who need them [1]. He notes that PDF maps are less useful because they cannot be easily manipulated or layered [1].

• Supporting planning and action: Bassill aims to use maps to encourage planning and action steps that bring people together to drive resources to non-profits and growing businesses in specific areas [1].

• Integrating maps with other information: He combines maps with other layers of information, such as locations of service providers and community assets, to support neighborhood-based planning [2]. He also uses maps with his blogs and ongoing communications [2]. Through his use of maps, Bassill seeks to support his goal of creating a framework to help youth in poverty by making information accessible, promoting collaboration, and directing resources to the areas where they are most needed [1, 3].

Funding and the Fate of Bassill's Mapping Projects
Funding significantly impacted the evolution of Dan Bassill's mapping projects over time [1]. Here's a breakdown:

• Early Stages (1994-2007): For many years, Bassill relied on volunteers and donated software to collect and map data [1]. This suggests that his mapping efforts during this time were likely limited by resources and capacity, but still a focus of his work [2]. 

• Funding Boost (2007): A $50,000 anonymous gift, combined with a grant from HSBC North America, enabled Bassill to rebuild his in-house mapping platform and to create an online interactive platform [1]. This funding allowed him to utilize ARC GIS software to create maps with layers of information, and to empower others to create similar maps using the interactive platform [1].

• Recession and Funding Loss (2008-2011): The recession starting in 2008 led to a drying up of funding by mid-2010 [1]. As a result, Bassill has not had the funds to update or create these maps since 2011 [1]. This highlights the vulnerability of his projects to external economic factors and the challenges of maintaining data platforms without consistent funding.

• Current State: Bassill's mapping platform is no longer functioning properly [2]. He states that it would take a significant investment to rebuild his capacity [1]. This indicates that without renewed financial support, the interactive mapping project is unlikely to be revived. The lack of resources affects his ability to provide updated, interactive maps that combine multiple layers of information useful for community planning [1].

• Need for Philanthropic Support: Bassill points out that data resources are not profit centers and thus do not qualify for investment zone capital [2]. He suggests that one role of philanthropy or other government resources could be to support the long-term development, maintenance, and use of platforms like his [2]. This highlights his view that mapping projects are essential public services deserving of non-profit or public support.

In summary, Bassill's mapping projects experienced a significant boost from a one-time influx of funds in 2007, but this momentum was cut short by the economic recession and subsequent funding loss [1]. This has led to the current situation where his interactive mapping platform is no longer functioning and requires considerable investment to rebuild, emphasizing the crucial role of consistent funding for such initiatives [1, 2].

The two blog articles used were:

Jan 18, 2021 - Service-Learning in Support of Dr. M.L. King, Jr's Dream. click  here

Jan 20, 2019 - How I'll Honor ML King Jr. Holiday - click here

Google Notebook LM includes a feature that creates a podcast sharing notes created.  Here is one version of several podcast that I created from the AI analysis of these two blog articles.

click here to open

My first impression when I started using this feature was "Wow! I'd love to have had people in Chicago and other places having this type of discussion about what I was sharing in my blog articles, newsletters and website."  

That's still possible and I hope this inspires you to start that discussion in your own network.

My second impression from using the Notebook LM podcast feature, is that there are a lot of exaggerations, mis interpretations and downright fabrications in the podcast, and so far, I've no way to edit that.

However, after reading research about my work, done by various college students over the past 30 years, I realize that this is not just a problem of an AI generated podcast.  I've read many reports with misinterpretations of what I was doing.  As with the podcast, once the report was published, I've had no way to correct it....

Other than continuing to write blog articles and share information that reflected accurately on what I was trying to do and the challenges I faced.

As you honor Dr. King's legacy and reflect on the challenges ahead, I encourage you to do your own deep dives into my blog articles and websites. Use AI tools like Google Notebook LM, or other emerging technologies.

This picture is from the mid 1990s, with me sharing a Chicago Tribune story with a map showing areas of high poverty in Chicago.  I've been sharing similar maps for 30 years! 

Or just do as interns did in past years. Read the articles and use Power Point, Prezi, concept maps, videos and other tools to share what you're learning and to start a conversation in your community.

Thank you again Terry Elliott for inspiring me to dig into Google Notebook LM. I'll probably keep using it.

I'm not on social media today and am avoiding TV and news because of the terrible event taking place in Washington. However, I'll be back later in the week and look forward to connecting with you.

If you appreciate what I'm sharing, please visit this page and help fund the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC.  

Thank you.

Embed these learning goals in your youth program

I created this graphic many years ago to visualize all of the work that needs to be done to create high quality, volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs and make them available for 10-20 years to youth living in ALL high poverty neighborhoods of Chicago and other places with concentrations of persistent poverty.  I've used it often.  One place was in this article about building personal learning habits.

In that article I also showed a concept map created in the mid 2000s to show Internet-based learning goals that I was trying to embed in the Chicago tutor/mentor program I was leading at that time.  I updated it today.  You can open it at this link.

I circled three additions I made to the cMap today.  

One points to the Social Emotional Learning (SEL) goals of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, CASEL. On their website they say, "We envision all children and adults as self-aware, caring, responsible, engaged, and lifelong learners who work together to achieve their goals and create a more inclusive, just world. How? Through a commitment to SEL."    

The other two point to articles by my Connected Learning  (#CLMOOC) friend, Terry Elliott, who is a retired college teacher from Western Kentucky.  We've connected via the Internet since we first met in 2013. 

The "Tips for Deeper Learning" node points to this article on my blog, and this article on Terry's blog. Neither of these is a "short read".

That brings me to the node on the concept map titled "Invisible Practice".  I read this article on Terry's blog a few days ago. Then I posted this comment:

In this article you describe “invisible practice” and how do we practice it? My question is “How do we reach every newborn and coach them to develop these habits, during the first few years of life, so they are embedded and used for the rest of their lives? 

I’m reading a book titled “The Bitcoin Standard”, by Saifedean Ammous. It talks about the role of money in developing economies and the quality of life. In one section he talks about people who defer immediate reward to invest in future productivity. He says “the most important economic decisions to any individual’s well-being are the ones they conduct in their trade-offs with their future self.” 

Your description of “invisible practice” would fit the description of this deferred investment.

At the bottom of Terry's long article I saw the link to a podcast. I listened to it and it was a man and a woman talking about what Terry had written about "invisible practice".   

Then, I looked at an article Terry had written prior to the one about "invisible practice".  It included the graphic below, which includes another podcast discussion of the poem on Terry's blog.

I encourage you to listen to these. They sound like real people taking a deep look at blog articles Terry wrote. 

So I posted this comment.  Terry, was the podcast generated by AI? Two people talking to each other, making sense of your poem? If yes, that is amazing! I’d love to have a couple of people reading my blog articles and discussing them with the depth and insight that this video offers. Thanks for sharing it. 

Within a few hours Terry sent me an email, with a link to a new article he'd written, titled, "Daniel's Query".  He said "it took him less than an hour to pull this together". 

Terry started his article saying,   "One of my wonderful online colleagues, Daniel Bassill, asked me previously to run one of his blog posts through Google Notebook LM. I did so using this prompt:

 “Please connect these sources and explain how they fit into the idea of small voices.” There were two sources: his blog post and the book “The Bitcoin Standard“. 

For those who know little (or nothing) about Bitcoin, or "The Bitcoin Standard" book, Terry's AI query provided quite a lot of information. And, the podcast discussion does a lot to help you understand what's in the book. 

The podcast focused totally on the book, and not the Tutor/Mentor blog article, so Terry created another prompt, saying: Please analyze this source and explain how it might fit into the idea of bitcoin.  

The podcast generated by that prompt is at the bottom of the article.  I really hope you'll read it. It is an example of the type of conversation I'd love to see happening all over the world.   

I said earlier that these are not short reads. However, what the author of The Bitcoin Standard, and what the "invisible practice" article is saying, is that if you spend the time now, you'll be rewarded later.

I added these links to the concept map because these are habits that need to be embedded and modeled in every youth serving program and every public school.  Kids as young as one or two-years-old need to be introduced to these habits.

Figuring out how to do that and how to pay for it is the type of problem Thomas Edison might have loved to solve.

I've been sharing these ideas for over 30 years. And I keep learning. I read Terry's blog, and those of other #CLMOOC educators regularly, because they are always introducing new ideas to me.  I've a section in the Tutor/Mentor library with links to many valuable blogs.

I hope you'll spend some time reading this and try your own hand at creating podcasts using Google Notebook LM.  I've more than 1000 articles on this blog that you could be sharing with others!

It's a new year and my FundT/MI campaign starts again.  I received my first 2025 contribution last week from one of the volunteers who built the computer lab at the Montgomery Ward/Cabrini-Green Tutoring Program back in the 1980s.   It's greatly appreciated!   I hope I'll hear from many others as we move through January and the rest of the year.

Small voice in big universe of problems

I'm starting a new week, like I've started new weeks for the past 20-30 years. Recommitting myself to using my small voice to try to have a positive impact on the lives of people living in areas of concentrated poverty. 

As I though about how to write this I searched for "slice of the pie" to find a graphic that I created in the 1990s showing many issues that require attention, and how the "youth in poverty, and volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs" category is just one small slice of that pie. I found an article I wrote in 2015 and updated in 2020. I've reposted it below, with updates for 2025. 

The fires in Los Angeles and the hurricanes that hit the US South East states in November are just the two latest massive disasters that will require many years of consistent effort for people in the affected areas to recover.  This is not a new problem. 

In September 2005 I wrote an article titled "Disaster challenges us all".  In it I wrote,

"For the next few weeks there will be a tremendous outpouring of charitable donations to support relief efforts, just as there was in the weeks following the Tsunami. However, following this there will be a need for donations to continue for a decade or more. 

However, in six months or a year there will be another disaster that will mobilize public attention. Then the people who need Tsunami aid, and the people who need Katrina aid, will be off the front page and struggling to find the dollars needed to continue rebuilding their communities."  Read the article. 

This graphic is part of a strategy graphic that shows the planning steps needed to solve complex problems or roll out a new business strategy. See the full graphic and explanation here.

Every year, millions of dollars are spent by social benefit organizations trying to attract resource to support their work. The money is spent directly on fund raising, marketing and public education. It's spent indirectly on training programs and consultants.

Regardless of where an organization operates or what cause it focuses on, we're all competing for a slice of the same donor pie. That pie seems to be shrinking, either because of economic circumstances, or because of the rise in organizations competing for a share of the pie. Natural disasters that occur randomly around the world exert a huge pull on discretionary donor dollars every time they happen.

In the last few cycles elections have also drawn a huge share of donor dollars.

In my 2005 article, I wrote, 

"I spent 17 years doing corporate advertising for a large retail store. We sent out 3 waves of advertising each week to 20 million people in 40 states telling potential customers that we had stoves, clothes, tires and other merchandise they wanted in one of 400 stores that we operated. We also spent millions of dollars in making sure we had the right merchandise in those stores, well trained people, and that the stores were in the right locations. 

Each store had a responsibility to do its own advertising and training but because of the support from the national advertising and training, each store was able to attract customers on a regular basis, at a fraction of what it would cost if each had to create their own advertising campaign."

I've not found any city with a consistent, on-going effort to support all tutor/mentor programs in that city the same way big companies supported hundreds of retail stores spread all over the country.

Thus, it's unlikely that great programs, doing similar work, but in different places, will be available in a large percent of the places where such programs are needed. 

Since 1993 I've piloted uses of maps to show where non-school tutor/mentor programs are most needed, then using the maps to influence donor support of programs in every place where the map shows programs are needed. In recent years there is a growing application of mapping and data visualization (see examples on this concept map). However, I still don't see many who are trying to create maps of all service providers doing similar work in areas where that work is needed. Such maps would show a poor distribution of needed programs. Over time it would show change as new programs launch and some go out of business.

It's also unlikely that many organizations will attract on-going dollars to enable them to provide long-term support. In youth development, this is a serious issue. Kids take 12 to 20 years to move from first grade to first job. If they are living in high poverty areas, the support system needs to reach them early and stay with them through school and even into work. Such support systems are needed in many, many places.

Architects, engineers, web developers, etc. all use some form of blueprint to show all of the work that needs to be done, in the correct sequence, and with the right talent, to build a tower, a rocket, or any other product.

In disaster recovery, or helping kids through school and into careers, I feel that this is missing.  Take a look at this concept map.

It shows some of the supports kids need at each grade level as they move through school. It includes a map showing high poverty areas of Chicago, where these supports are most needed (because they are not naturally available).  It also shows a role volunteers and extra adults can take. 

I've seen list posted on social media showing supplies people need in LA because of the fires, but not a concept map that shows what's needed from today (fighting fires/finding places to live) until some day in the future when these areas have been rebuilt and when all the people affected have rebuilt their lives.

Without the blueprint a lot of money will be spent, but without an accumulated long term impact. Without a map, only a few places will get the help it needs.

What's the solution?

Building public will is step 7 on this map. Each step is important in solving complex problems. However, until more people from different places, with different talents, and different levels of influence get involved in brainstorming ways to build public support and keep it growing, I don't see many long-term solutions emerging.

I created this graphic (see article) to illustrate that while we want to help social benefit organizations and clients use the resources available to achieve their missions and/or overcome challenges they face, we also need to influence what people who don't live in poverty do to help them. This can include direct support such as funding, or public policy. It can also include indirect support, such as removing barriers and obstacles.

Some (but certainly not all) of the actions we need to be focusing on include:

a) constant education of the public so they have deeper understanding of the problems and places where strong, constantly improving, social benefit organizations are needed

b) innovation of on-going advertising-type campaigns to influence what resource providers do

c) build growing understanding of how current systems of philanthropic and government support are not working.

Just a small growth of the resource pie every year could make a huge impact on the availability of needed social benefit organizations (including tutoring/mentoring organizations) in more of the places where they are most needed.

Building public will requires champions and leaders from every sector, in every city of the world. I'm certain that this discussion is taking place. I'm just not sure where this is an on-line forum, a cMOOC, or part of a web library that points to a wide range of places where this is being discussed.

I've started using BlueSky more than Twitter. However, while I find groups of educators and a good discussion of nonprofit issues I still don't find volunteer-based youth serving organizations, their donors, the media, or their researchers.    

I've been sharing this message, along with a library or resources, and list of existing programs operating in Chicago, since 1994.  Yet, I find almost no leaders using a collection of graphics similar to those I've put into this article, to share their own commitment to this same goal.

Ideas bursting in air!

I launch my ideas on blog articles every week, then spread them, like fireworks via social media. As you and others pass them on in your own feeds, we reach more people, and maybe convince some to take on leadership roles in this effort.  Such leaders can be from any city in the USA, or from other parts of the world!

Thanks for reading. I'm a small voice, just a whisper in the wilderness. But if you share, we can roar like a lion.

Please share.  I'd like to hear from you.

Use the comment section to provide links to open, on-line forums, social media groups, or cMOOCs that you're aware of, where "building public will" is the focus of the group. Or introduce yourself to me on Facebook or LinkedIn.

Finally, it's a new year and once again I need to raise a few thousand dollars to cover the costs of maintaining the Tutor/Mentor library, writing this blog and trying to be a spark that ignites a massive increase in using these ideas.  Visit this page to make a contribution. 

Celebrate and support mentoring - National Mentoring Month

It's National Mentoring Month, when mentoring in all its different formats is celebrated across the world. I led two different volunteer based tutor/mentor programs in Chicago between 1975 and 2011 and that's what motivates me daily to try to raise visibility and draw operating resources to all of the youth serving programs operating in Chicago and other cities.

The graphic below shows a range of young people and volunteers who were involved in these programs. In the lower right corner is a photo of me with Leo Hall, who was in 4th grade when we were first introduced in 1973. We're still connected on Facebook and Instagram. 
 

Every January since the early 2000s I've written an article that highlights National Mentoring Month. I sent my January newsletter out this week and included links to Mentoring Month resources.  You can read the newsletter here.

Last January I wrote this article, showing the Mentoring Stamp released by the US Postal Service in 2001, and introduced at our spring Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference. 

It's one of many articles where I use graphics like the one below to focus on the research needed to segment our understanding of all the different groups of people being served by various types of organized and informal mentoring.

During 2024 I shared several articles with maps like the one below that show areas where persistent poverty is concentrated in the USA.  These are places where organized, volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs are most needed. 

As you celebrate mentoring this month, and hopefully throughout the year, I encourage you to use the graphic shown below as a reminder of your ability to draw people from your network to my library of programs and to the websites of individual Chicago area tutor and/or mentor programs. Use the information to build your understanding of the work being done and of ways you can use your own time, talent and dollars to help.

You can create your own versions of this graphic, showing your city instead of Chicago, and pointing to lists of youth programs in your city, if someone is collecting and sharing that information.  If no one is doing this, share my articles with people at your local college and university, and with wealthy alumni. Encourage them to fund a multi-year Tutor/Mentor Connection type research and action program that involves students, faculty, alumni and the local community.  View these articles to see what's possible.

Thank you for reading.  I hope you'll connect with me on BlueSky, LinkedIn, Instagram and Mastodon. See links on this page.

I also invite you to make a contribution to help me pay the bills in 2025 and continue sharing this information. Visit this page. 

Inequality. So much data. So little change.

In December I received the Chicago Community Area Hardship Index (2019-2023) from the UIC Great Cities Index. 

The introduction says  "The Chicago Community Area Hardship Index combines values from six indicators of socioeconomic hardship to quantify and visualize the significant variations in socioeconomic status across Chicago. This story map will present hardship index values at the community area level calculated using socioeconomic data from the 2019-2023 American Community Survey (ACS)."

View the report and maps at this link. The map shows areas of greatest hardship on the West and South parts of Chicago.    

This was last published as a 2016-2020 report which I shared in an article on the Mapping for Justice blog. You can see that most of the same areas are highlighted.

I've been using maps to focus attention, and resources, on high poverty areas of Chicago since 1993 in an on-going effort to help long-term, volunteer-based, tutor, mentor and learning programs reach more K-12 youth in these areas.  

One story that motivated me was this from the Chicago Tribune, in 1994, which also shows the West and South parts of Chicago as areas of high poverty where kids are most at risk. 

I started the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 as an information-based public education effort, intended to build a better understanding of what volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs were in Chicago and help draw needed operating resources and volunteers to all of them.  Since 2011 I've led this through Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC.

We published our first Chicago Tutor/Mentor Programs Directory in 1994 and updated it every year through 2003, when we launched an on-line portal to help people find programs and know where more are needed.

You can see that the map on the front cover of the Directory shows the same areas of Chicago as the 2024 UIC maps.  Not much has changed.

In April 2015, almost 10 years ago, I included this graphic in an article titled "After the Riots, Do the Planning."  

This shows an August 1993 Chicago SunTimes story, which leads off with a statement saying "Chicago neighborhoods that were poor 20 years ago are even more entrenched in poverty today because the city lacks a comprehensive battle plan".

It highlights the same areas of Chicago as were highlighted in the UIC report.

In this article I show the "Master Plan" that the Tutor/Mentor Connection created and presented to leaders at the 1997 Presidents' Summit for America's Future, held in Philadelphia. 

This article is one of several in this section of the Tutor/Mentor blog where I describe the planning process, commitment, and leadership, that has been needed for so many years. 

Since launching the Tutor/Mentor Connection the goal has been that others would use the information in the library to deepen their understanding of problems associated with poverty and inequality and solutions being applied in some parts of the world that could be applied in Chicago neighborhoods.

There are several hundred articles on this blog, and the Mapping for Justice blog, with maps that you can use in your planning and resource allocation.  You just need to spend time looking at them.

Below is Page 2 from the 2000 February-March issue of the printed newsletter that I mailed to about 10,000 people.  It describes a community-building process, where groups of people read the information I've been sharing, and use it in their own planning.  

As we enter 2025 I repeat my invitation for big and small groups of people to dig into my archives, my past articles, and the ideas I share and start a conversation with people in your network to better understand the information and find ways to apply the ideas.

Read these articles about having universities create on-campus Tutor/Mentor Connection study/research/action programs where students spend four to six years digging into my archives and the rest of their lives applying the ideas and generating new information that others learn from.   

"It just takes two or three people on a campus to launch a Tutor/Mentor Connection."  Or one wealthy donor.

I've been repeating this "call to involvement" every year since 1975 when I began leading the volunteer-based tutor/mentor program at Montgomery Ward.  I hope you'll accept the invitation and begin to add your own voice.

I encourage you to connect with me on Bluesky, LinkedIn, Mastodon, Facebook, Instagram, and even Twitter and that you'll read my posts and share them with your network.

At the right is an example of what you could also be doing. Paul Signorelli, who I met on Twitter through the 2013 #ETMOOC, saw my National Mentoring Month post and shared it on Bluesky, Instagram and Facebook, with  his own endorsement and encouragement.

As I said above, my 2000 newsletter only went to 10,000 people and many of those probably did not read it.  Too few ever saw these ideas. You can change that by sharing my posts, just as Paul and others have been doing. 

Thanks for reading. I look forward to connecting with you and your ideas in 2025.  

I want to thank those who sent contributions during 2024 to support my work.  I hope you'll give again in 2025 (even if you were not able to give in 2024). 

View my Support Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC page. Click here.

I cannot keep doing this without your help.